California Hospitals—Improving Individual Patient Care

HSAG-California has been funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to help a limited number of hospitals target improvement in high-prevalence, high-cost clinical topics, such as healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). As of November 1, 2011, HSAG-California has entered into agreements with 32 hospitals to provide technical assistance and other services to reduce HAIs.

HSAG-California supports hospitals with evidence-based clinical interventions and objective expertise to improve individual patient care. We do this by including the voice of the beneficiary in all of our activities, leading the way to patient-centered care. Our hospital improvement activities include collaborative projects, online interaction, rapid-cycle improvement strategies, and peer-to-peer education. Through large-scale learning and action networks where everyone teaches and learns, HSAG works to accelerate the pace of change and rapidly spreads best practices.

In hospitals, work targets HAIs. Hospitals that join HSAG-California's HAI initiatives will contribute to as much as a 50 percent reduction in HAI rates. Hospital initiatives will reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) by implementing the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP). Clostridium difficile and surgical site infections will be addressed as well. All Medicare-participating hospitals will also receive technical assistance for reporting inpatient and outpatient quality data to CMS. HSAG-California will bring together hospitals, nursing homes, patient advocacy groups, and other stakeholders to improve care transitions and decrease adverse drug events.

HSAG-California assists select hospitals in quality improvement initiatives to improve the quality of care and level of patient safety delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. Quality improvement will occur by:

• Reducing HAIs.
  • Central-Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSIs)
  • CAUTIs
  • Surgical Site Infections
  • Clostridium difficile Infections
• Assisting with Quality Data Reporting and Improvement.
  • Inpatient Quality Reporting
  • Outpatient Quality Reporting
  • National Healthcare Safety Network—HAI Reporting
  • Critical Access Hospital (CAH) Reporting
• Reducing Adverse Drug Events.
• Improving Care Transitions and Reducing Hospital Readmissions.
• Conducting Medical Case Review.

If you are interested in working with us, please contact Suzanne Anders, MHI, RN, CPHQ, Program Director, Hospital Patient Safety,
at 818.265.4675 or sanders@hsag.com.